Hometown: Surrey, BC
Program: Bachelor of Applied Sciences in Biomedical Engineering
What attracted you to your field?
As a toddler, I was a tiny menace ripping apart anything I could get my hands to figure out how it worked. In retrospect, this is where my interest in engineering started: an organic curiosity about our world. In grade school, I gravitated towards math and sciences as a means of understanding the complexities of life. However, despite these clear inclinations towards STEM, I did not discover my passion for biomedical engineering until a nasty knee injury landed me in the operating room when I was 17.
The minute I entered the hospital, my toddler-like mind was back — I wanted to understand how the MRI machines worked and how the metal bolts used in my surgery interfaced successfully with the human body. Rather than tearing apart their machines like my toddler-self would, I tore open some books. A few weeks of research had me amazed about the bridge between engineering and medicine. I was suddenly craving opportunities to work on devices like prosthetics, gene editing and brain-computer interfaces — a craving that was finally satiated by choosing to study biomedical engineering.
What is your favourite moment from your time at UBC?
Hands down, my favourite moment at UBC was leading UBC’s Biomedical Engineering Student Team (BEST). Since becoming co-captain in 2019, I have been committed to inspiring ambition and community among students in STEM. From co-founding UBC’s inaugural Biomedical Engineering Industry Night to mobilizing over 60 students to modify and donate toys to children with disabilities, my team has created a lasting impact.
What is one piece of advice you have for students entering your program?
Stop rejecting yourself: “I’m not qualified enough for this job.” “That person is way too busy to have a coffee chat with me.” “I shouldn’t bother emailing – they won’t reply to some random student.” Does this sound like something you’ve ever said to yourself? Well guess what, there is no way that you can know how someone else will react – that’s up to them. Don’t miss out on huge opportunities in your education, career or personal life because you’ve already made the rejection yourself. Be confident and send out those applications, coffee chat requests, emails, etc. Because the worst thing that happens is getting a “no,” and the best thing is getting one step closer to your dream!
Tell us briefly about your research in layperson’s terms, and the impact you hope it will have?
This past summer, I was privileged to receive the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council’s Undergraduate Student Research Award. This allowed me to intern as a research assistant in UBC’s Molecular Mechatronics Lab under the supervision of Dr. John Madden. My main focus was to fabricate soft, capacitive pressure sensors and integrate them into a robotic hand.
The ultimate goal was to enable the hand to mimic proprioception – your body’s ability to sense movement, action and location – and to differentiate between shear and normal forces exerted by various objects and autonomously adjust its grip to prevent dropping or crushing objects. My main role was to build a robotic arm entirely from scratch, engineered to faithfully replicate human movements.
What’s next for you?
I’m planning to take the summer off to travel to Italy with my mom. During this time, I’ll also dedicate myself to completing the novel I’ve been crafting over the past few years. Looking ahead, I’m considering pursuing either medical school or graduate studies — or perhaps both — once the summer comes to an end.